EMOCLEW

Bear is spell-checking the Welcome Mat: "E M O C L E W."

Well, Bear, are we ready for our Olympic hopefuls?

"Yes, we can now officially emoclew them with our hospitality, enthusiasm, kale, hay, and my good looks. Definitely ready for Opening Ceremonies!"

As It Has Been Written on the Mat, So Shall It Be!

Anything you care to add, Yum-Yum?

"WHHHHHHHHHHeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeK! Full of Glee, I am!"

Thought so. Good night, athletes! Good night, YumYum. Good night, Bear the Beaver Pig. Good night, Mom. Good night Edwin. Good night stars. Good night Windstorm. Good night Dark Sky.

Tomorrow Fireworks will light up the sky!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

"WHEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeek! Games! WheeeEEEEk!"

Good night (again) YumYum!

And Sweet dreams to all of you, dear readers. We SO enjoy having you visit and invite you to add comments: Who are your favorite Olympic guinea pigs? Which guinea pigs do you think will win in Vancouver?

All the piggies who are rescued and adopted in loving forever homes. Thank you, guinea pig rescue of Vancouver. We dedicate these games to YOU, the real Champions of the World!

THIS IS ME EXCITED

Hey, I AM excited about the Games but, give me a break, fansters, I just got neutered this week and am a little sore down under. So if I'm not jumping up and down while PandaPig and YumYum are trying to find red, white, and blue fabric for their racing (to the fridge) suits, forgive me.

This is me: Excited.

It will be Wayne Gretzsky lighting the cauldron, I'm sure of it.

Excited.

Neutered excitement.

Thanks, Panda, for letting me post. It was
Exciting.

FOLLOW APOLO

We don't know about links and things, but our hero, Apolo Anton Ohno has his own webpage and tweets and urls and posts and lots of connections to an Inside View of the Olympic Games from the ice!  And off.  So, if you love the Winter Olympics as much as we do, and speedskating as much as we do, and Apolo as much as we do, and you know how to use the Internet better than we do, we hope you'll Follow Apolo and our Team because Opening Ceremonies begin tomorrow night!  Our bet for who's going to light the cauldron is Wayne Gretsky and we'd bet our lettuce leaves, carrots, and cucumbers on it! 

Mom's homeboy, Edwin, arrives this afternoon  from Seattle enroute to the Games and promises to bring us all back lots of souvenirs!  Mom wants pins to collect and we want those red mittens to decorate our cuddle cups and warm up our evenings...tonight we are expecting another wicked windstorm and since our cages are on the floor mom has to work pretty hard to keep away drafts (not good for piggies, not at all!) So...go Apolo, go Edwin, go play those Games and bring home the Gold!  We are very excited as you can tell! 

LAYING OUT THE WELCOME MAT

The 2010 Winter Olympics begin in Vancouver, B.C. in only 2 days, so the whole tribe is working hard to put finishing touches on our welcome mat! Bellingham is the closest American city to the Games although, just walking about town you'd never even know they were happening?!

The Herd That Hears wants Apolo Ohno and all athletes from the U.S and around the world to know you are ALL welcome to our Runabout space if you need a place to practice, warm up, or eat cucumbers and hay.

We don't know how many to expect but apparently there is a downhill skier from Africa called "The Snow Leopard" so we are using our leopard mat in his honor. We love the Winter Olympics!

Bear, you're not eating the cucumber we put out for the Snow Leopard, are you?

HIGH AMONG THE CLOUDS

Losing oneself high among the clouds, mom says, is a beautiful meditation and a place where she feels Grace upon her.
She asked if we have a place like that. I told her when we are loving one another and making her laugh and giggle we have a place among the clouds, too. She liked that. We make her giggle a lot and she does not have to climb up into the clouds to feel Grace upon her when we make her laugh. She said we are a special family who can find so much happiness just being who we are together and living simply.

IF I CAN STOP ONE HEART FROM BREAKING

"If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain."

-Emily Dickinson

HAPPY BEAR IS HOME

Now that Bear is home, YumYum can go back to snuggling into Mom's hand on the windowsill while watching his favorite birds at the feeder. Currently, the red-winged blackbirds have caught his fancy and when they land on the suet and go "SEEE-YEW!" Yum-Yum replies "I see you! I see you!" and giggles. This is true. It is so funny that mom giggles and calls her friend am to tell her that Yummy is talking to the birds again. Usually it's the woodpeckers, or maybe the chickadees, but he's all into the blackbirds now! And Bear is home!

BEAR'S BAAAAACK!

Celebrate!  Bear the Beaver Pig is HOME! He is a little sore "down under" so mom got him some special ultra-soft bedding; just until he heals.  But he's back: HAPPY! US HAPPY!

PRAYER OF GRATITUDE

Tonight it is quiet because Bear is still at the vet, Yum-Yum misses him and mom cannot console him. I would like to offer a prayer of gratitude for friendship between animals. I am just a guinea pig nobody wanted. Since being adopted and creating PandaPigSanctuary, mom has also adopted littleYumYum and, last Christmas Eve, Bear the Beaver Pig. Now we are Three Pigs!  Three guinea pigs and mom!  We are now the family we never had.  And tomorrow, Bear is coming Home! So, tonight, while YumYum is sad, I am grateful that we at least have each other and enjoy the beauty, warmth, and comfort of our first real Home. Mom said "That includes me, too, Panda!"

INCONSOLABLE YUM-YUM

Yum-Yum misses Bear so much he spent the night alone, sadly, in his ferret sleeping bag instead of playing with his toys, rearranging his cage, wheeking, and socializing with me. I've never seen him like this but it must be how I was when Chai moved down to Seattle. In fact, that's probably one reason mom brought Yum-Yum home, to cheer me up.

It's never been so quiet. There is nothing that will cheer him up because even though mom keeps telling Yum that "Bear will be home tomorrow," (well, most of him will be) Wee Willie Winkie has no concept of time.

We live in the moment;
we're spiritual that way.

But, for now, the boisterous, playful, circus-act we know and love as Yum-Yum has retreated into his sleeping bag and is not even hungry. Tomorrow cannot come soon enough.

We all miss Bear. It's just too quiet on the PigPonderosa and there is nothing to be done but wait and listen to the birds singing boisterously outside that "Spring is coming! Spring is coming!" Even the red-winged blackbirds' bright red epaulets are growing in. Handsome creatures! And don't they know it!

For now, however, it remains too quiet, and Yum-Yum has discovered how deep friendship runs within the "Herd that Hears."

BEAR HIDING FROM SNIP-SNIP: If I can't see you, then you can't see me!

YUM-YUM IS SAD TONIGHT

Just look at that face! Well, it's all because today mom had to take Bear up to our vet in Lynden for the big "snip-snip. He had developed certain man-problems which can afflict un-neutered older male boars.

Problem is, Yum-Yum misses him so much he has cried, squealed, and wheaked until his voice reached epic proportion which caused mom to put him in Bear's cage to calm him down because she has a migraine tonight. And give him carrots. Yummy gets upset enough when mom picks one of us up for lap-time, but he's never had an overnight away from Bear and she has a new set of ear-plugs so she can sleep. He is now just lying sadly in his little square soft-house, bereft of joy.

But mom made one magnificent discovery whilst cleaning Wee Willie Winkie's cage tonight. She bought him a wooden toy to chew on (that's how we keep our teeth from growing and growing and growing.)  The chew toy was easy enough for a learning-impaired Teletubby to construct in 5 minutes; it took mom all night to put square things in round holes.

Cleaning Yummy's "secret garden" she discovered he had carefully dismantled hours of work in a matter of minutes, dragged half of his chew toy into his special place, then gnawed on it until it was unrecognizable. He casually left the other half lying dismally face-down against his food bowl.

But tonight Yum-Yum is not chewing on his new toy. He misses Bear and it really shows how sensitive we guinea pigs are to separation and loss.

We grieve.

Our hearts are tender, like yours.